Tintagel is nowadays a small village on the north east coast of Cornwall. Its population is about 700 inhabitants (2001 census). The village was called Trevena (from Cornish Tre war Venydh) until 1850, when it was decided to rename it. The most picturesque building in the village is its Old Post Office, a 14th century house converted into a post office in the 19th century and now owned by the National Trust, a private heritage organisation.
In Arthurian legend, it is the birthplace of King Arthur. There are indeed in the immediate surroundings of the village, on the rocky coast, ruins which date back perhaps to the 5th century, and called the "Castle of Arthur". Excavations undertaken in the 1930s by Ralegh Radford established the existence of a Celtic place of worship and a 5th and 6th century trading post around the site of a 12th century castle. It is believed that the place was an important trading center with the Mediterranean world immediately after the fall of the Roman Empire. More recent excavations led to the discovery in 1998 of the "Pierre d'Arthur".